Jul 8
Roll up! Roll up ladies and gentlemen! You've never seen such a creature before!
Are you quite sure it's safe? Quite sure?
Shouldn’t the beast be led by a ring through its nose?
Such intelligent eyes! Almost as though it knows…
Did the chap say it came from India? So exotic!
My good fellow, the thing hardly moves! It’s rather idiotic.
Roll up! Roll up ladies and gentlemen! Come see mon chéri!
You've never such power. That I guarantee.
The horses are ready. Mon chéri, mon chéri.
Here, here, bedtime beer. To help you sleep big baby.
Mon Dieu! I can barely fathom what's before us.
Voici c'est Claire, the famous rhinoceros!
Look at the ribbons! Did you see her hair?
This style is called Le horn à la Claire.
Come see French nobility, come see for yourselves!
You can each buy a knick-knack to put on your shelves.
How extraordinary! What an incredible beast!
I've seen one before, but now it's deceased.
The horses are ready. Mon chéri, mon chéri.
Here, here, bedtime beer. To help you sleep big baby.
Are you quite sure it's safe? Quite sure?
Shouldn’t the beast be led by a ring through its nose?
Such intelligent eyes! Almost as though it knows…
Did the chap say it came from India? So exotic!
My good fellow, the thing hardly moves! It’s rather idiotic.
Roll up! Roll up ladies and gentlemen! Come see mon chéri!
You've never such power. That I guarantee.
The horses are ready. Mon chéri, mon chéri.
Here, here, bedtime beer. To help you sleep big baby.
Mon Dieu! I can barely fathom what's before us.
Voici c'est Claire, the famous rhinoceros!
Look at the ribbons! Did you see her hair?
This style is called Le horn à la Claire.
Come see French nobility, come see for yourselves!
You can each buy a knick-knack to put on your shelves.
How extraordinary! What an incredible beast!
I've seen one before, but now it's deceased.
The horses are ready. Mon chéri, mon chéri.
Here, here, bedtime beer. To help you sleep big baby.
*
Here, I have attempted a Cento. I have tried using a polyvocal voice that mixes quotations from a range of speakers and sources, imagining the sorts of things Clara the rhinoceros would have overheard as she travelled around Europe. Because she was a very special rhinoceros whose memory lives on as a quasi urban legend, the patchwork voice embraces a rhyming sing-song quality.
Here, I have attempted a Cento. I have tried using a polyvocal voice that mixes quotations from a range of speakers and sources, imagining the sorts of things Clara the rhinoceros would have overheard as she travelled around Europe. Because she was a very special rhinoceros whose memory lives on as a quasi urban legend, the patchwork voice embraces a rhyming sing-song quality.
